Press release long player IOS app

1. 18th
June 2015
PRESS RELEASE – EMBARGOED UNTIL 23 JUNE 2015
LEGENDARY COMPOSITION LONGPLAYER, NOW AVAILABLE AS AN iOS APP.
LONDON, UK. 23rd
Jun 2015. Commissioned by Artangel in 1995, Longplayer is the
legendary 1000 yearlong musical composition by artist, and Pogues founding
member, Jem Finer. Created in collaboration with sound artist Daniel Jones, the iOS
app released today celebrates 15 years of continuous play, bringing the experience
of listening to deep time, to everyone’s pockets.
Longplayer is a musical composition that has been playing since the beginning of the
year 2000, and will play on, never repeating, until it reaches the point at which it first
started, exactly 1000 years later. Until now it has only been possible to hear
Longplayer on-line, at selected listening posts worldwide and at one-off live
performances.
The piece that fuses art, music and technology together was the result of years of
research into musical systems, cultural forms, and the physical basis of time itself. It
is intended to force us to confront the reality of deep time, of environmental and
social processes, which play out beyond the experience of any individual.
The Longplayer iOS app introduces a new way to listen to Longplayer, anywhere, at
any time and without the need for a data connection. It will always play in time with
all other instances of Longplayer - one point in a community of listeners stretching
through time and space, across many lifetimes. The app displays a real-time graphic
score and includes exhaustive information about Longplayer - the instrument; it’s
history, composition and performance.
Implicit in Longplayer’s composition is the ability for it to be performed by any
technology - a necessity given its duration and the future’s unpredictability. Inspired
by computers designed for deep space missions, one of the original strategies for
sustaining Longplayer was to make large numbers of small and cheap chips whose
sole function would be its performance. Though the lifespan of an iOS device is
limited to a few years, in a very real sense this is a first realisation of such a small
independent computational device, piggybacking on the iPhone and iPad’s ubiquity,
portability and computational power.
Longplayer app available from the App Store
Designed by Joe Hales, Jem Finer and Daniel Jones.
Development by Daniel Jones.
END OF RELEASE

2. ABOUT LONGPLAYER
Longplayer was composed by Jem Finer and is now in the care of The Longplayer
Trust. The Longplayer Trust was established at the end of 2000 to take responsibility
for Longplayer’s upkeep for at least its first 1000-year cycle. This involves
researching and implementing the means to keep Longplayer playing, in ensuring its
sustainability, and making it freely available to as larger number of people as
possible. www.longplayer.org
Jem Finer is an artist, musician and composer. Since studying computer science in
the 1970s, he has worked in a variety of fields, including photography, film,
experimental and popular music and installation. He was a founding member of The
Pogues with whom he has played, written and recorded music since 1982.
Longplayer represents a convergence of many of his concerns, particularly those
relating to systems, long-durational processes and extremes of scale in both time
and space.
Daniel Jones is an artist and software engineer, whose work explores new ways in
which sound and technology can illuminate our understanding of the world,
translating patterns and data into living musical forms. His BAFTA-nominated
practice spans topics from bacterial communication to forest ecosystems, shown at
venues including the Barbican, the Museum of Science and Industry, IRCAM, the
Southbank Centre, and the Royal Institution of
Great Britain. erase.net / @ideoforms
Joe Hales is a London-based graphic designer. He studied at Camberwell College of
Arts before going on to establish his own practice. He is a tutor at the Faculty of Art,
Design and Architecture at Kingston University. joehales.co.uk
Thanks to Mike Davis whose generous donation has made the development of this
app possible.
Editors’ notes
The Longplayer App is a key part of an ambitious artistic programme that includes:
•Longplayer for Voices - a forthcoming live performance of sections of the
composition by 500 singers
•The annual Longplayer Conversation (now in association with the British Library)
that has in the past featured Brian Eno, Doris Lessing, Laurie Anderson, David
Graeber, Richard Mabey, George Soros, Alain de Botton
• Unfolding slowly over time, the Longplayer Letters by Nassim Nicholas Taleb,
Stewart Brand, John Burnside and others.
If you would like further information on Longplayer and the app, or to schedule an
interview with Jem Finer please email Lauren Rogers.
Press contact:
Lauren Rogers, Burnt Orange
e: lauren@weareburntorange.com m: 07752 157 002